Install Expert - deploying Palm OS, Windows Mobie and BlackBerry applications in a snap

Install Expert /for mobile applications/
Package and deploy Palm OS, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry mobile applications with ease

Current release: 4.3 (See revision history)

Requirements: Windows ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista

Known issues: See record

Price/registration:

See below

Supported devices: No limit

Required products: None

Downloads:

See below

Related titles: N/A

Delivery: Electronic (instant download)

Install Expert is a software deployment tool especially created for packaging and deploying applications for mobile platforms.

It was developed by BEIKS as an in-house solution to the need of deploying the company's own Palm OS, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry applications at optimal speed, cost and without the complexity and footprint of the generic application installers like InstallShield^® and WISE^®.

Install Expert was first released back in 1998 as Pilot Catapult. At the time, it was the first and only specialized Palm OS application deployment tool and as such was at some point shipped on the platform's unified development tool, the Metrowerks CodeWarrior.

As the mobile applications workspace evolved and new platforms appeared, Pilot Catapult was enhanced with support for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry and eventually became Install Expert.

The greatest testimony for the product is that BEIKS is using it for deploying all its products across all mobile platforms supported by the company.

How is it better

1. Install Expert helps users install applications on their devices. If you think this is minor think again.

2. Install Expert greatly helps decrease support calls.

3. Install Expert packages have way smaller footprint than ones created with generic installers like InstallShield or WISE. That results in faster downloads and overall better customer experience.

4. Install Expert can get you up and running in 10 minutes without having to learn a new scripting language

5. Install Expert is designed for mobile application deployment.

6. Install Expert is used by its developers - us - for deploying hundreds of mobile applications across 3 mobile platforms. We stand behind our product if only because we ourselves use it heavily

For additional details please explore the other page sections.

Using command-line builds

One of the least advertised, but most useful Install Expert features is the ability to make builds from the command line.

For the past few years, we at BEIKS have been using this feature to build the vast majority of dictionary packages for Palm, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices. Indeed, if for every product you need to make a trial and a full build, then a branded build for various distributors, then a build for every target platform, then eventually a build for every target language...phew, it's a lot!
Did we mention the version changes?

If you have already been through the hell of releasing a second build in similar conditions you must already be looking for means to automate the process. And rightfully so!

While Install Expert does not currently include sample projects using automation, it is itself fully capable of becoming part of the automation chain - a feature, as mentioned earlier, which is heavily used and tested within BEIKS.

Java conduits

Install Expert does not currently support Java based conduits and we are not sure we want to support them in near future.

There are various pros and cons of using any tool, of course, and we do not tell you to cross Java for conduits (although that is what we have chosen to do). However, Install Expert is designed and targeted towards compact and optimized solutions, the Zen of the Palm computing platform. If you are to redistribute the whole JVM for a conduit that can be implemented in under 100 kB executable, then you probably don't care about the size of your installation anyway and might as well use the heavy artillery of installers, like Install Shield or Wise.

We would be sorry to lose a customer, but we also believe that tools should be used according to their design capabilities. As of version 4, Install Expert definitely does not provide good and meaningful ways to install Java-based applications.

Read the CDK!

Although InstallExpert is meant to save you time and efforts, it is not meant to replace the knowledge of how conduits fit in a Palm OS based solutions.

Reading and understanding the Conduit Development Kit is crucial to the success of your solution. Everything, from selecting unique database creator, to choosing the type of conduit (DLL or EXE, COM or simple API) to understanding the need and proper usage of the redistributable COM suite DLLs - all this plays the central role in implementing the best possible application that will sell well. InstallExpert should be just another tool in your arsenal, but the ability to use it is your power and responsibility.